Everyone started filing in, chairs scraping lightly against the flooring as they took their seats. I ended up between Mom and Kaylor, and I realized my blunder when I glanced across the table at Maddox and Mason. I had to stare at them through the entire meal.
No escape.
No reprieve.
Just a constant visual reminder of everything that had gone wrong.
Shit.
Donovan took his place at the head of the table, and while everyone was talking all at once, I took the opportunity to lean over to Mom. “You’re dating Maddox Corvo’s father.”
She blinked at me. “Is that a problem?”
I stared at her.Is that a problem?My brain short-circuited, thoughts fragmenting into useless static. Was it a problem that my mother—my serial-killing, body-wrapping, we-moved-six-times-in-four-years-to-stay-ahead-of-consequences mother—was dating the father of the guy who currently hated me? Who was a crime boss?
Did she know what Donovan did? What this family was involved in? Did she have any idea what kind of world she was stepping into? What kind of world she was draggingmeinto?
This was a deeper conversation better had later.
Food started moving around the table, dishes passing from hand to hand as plates filled with food. I scooped a pile of buttery mashed potatoes onto mine as another guy sauntered into the dining room. Based on his bone structure, he had to be yet another Corvo.
They just kept popping up.
The new addition looked more like Maddox and Mason than Kreed with the same devastatingly good looks. “What did I miss?” he asked, dropping into an empty chair.
I focused on my plate, cutting food into smaller pieces I had no intention of eating.
Mason caught my eye across the table, mischief sparking in his features. “Dad’s new girlfriend’s daughter is shagging Maddox.”
Several people around the table coughed, including Mom beside me.
My cheeks burned, heat flooding from my chest up my neck and into my cheeks.
Seriously?
Beside him, Kreed kicked Mason under the table. I heard the thud of the impact. Mason flinched but was otherwise unfazed with the pot of shit he was stirring. “What? Raine asked,” Mason defended as if he hadn’t done anything wrong, or embarrassed the hell out of me.
“Well, maybe you should make sure you know what the hell you’re talking about before you open your mouth. Mallory and I are not hooking up.” Maddox gritted out the last bit between clenched teeth.
“Anymore,” Mason muttered loud enough to make sure everyone heard.
“Mason,” Raine rumbled from the head of the table opposite his father, who had a hand pressed to his temple.
“How would you know? Were you there?” Maddox shot back to his twin.
I dropped my gaze immediately, stabbing my fork into my food, and wanting to morph under the rug. I fully understood Kaylor’s warning.
The strain at the table was building with every passing second. I could feel it accumulating in the air like atmospheric pressure before a tornado. Thick. Oppressive. Dangerous.
Kaylor’s gaze and mine connected, and she gave me an I-told-you-so expression. Mom sat still beside me, taking it all in but seemingly unbothered, the twitch of her eye telling me she and I would have a conversation once we got home.
“Enough!” Donovan’s voice cut clean through the noise. Forks paused midair, suspended in the act. The chaotic arguingdied. He exhaled, slowly standing from his seat at the head of the table.
I braced myself for a speech because he gave off the vibe. I wasn’t sure what about. Perhaps his frustration with his boys had reached its end.
“Before someone starts bleeding,” he said dryly, an undertone of a warning as he met each one of his boys’ gazes, “I have something I want to say.”
Mom blinked up at him, clearly not expecting this turn, her wineglass frozen halfway to her lips.
